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Sinclair forces Time Warner Cable to black out Fox station

In a possible aftermath of a recent rancorous retransmission agreement, Sinclair Broadcasting Group (Nasdaq: SBGI) has invoked its right under a rarely used non-duplication rule to force Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC-WI) to remove the Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate in Rochester in favor of its Buffalo-based Fox affiliate. The action impacted Time Warner Cable subscribers in some northern New York counties.

The blackout is sporadic, occurring only when the two stations are showing only the Fox national programming feeds. Local news was not impacted, but as soon as the newscast ended, the WUHF channel 12 signal was again blacked out.

The blackout comes months after a relatively rancorous retransmission consent battle between TWC and Sinclair. During that tussle, Time Warner Cable said a separate agreement with Fox would allow it to continue to show national Fox programming even though it would be blacking out local Fox stations owned by Sinclair.